


Stumbling on the Chopping Block

by Raaj



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Gen, The Velvet Room (Persona Series)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:41:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26956747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raaj/pseuds/Raaj
Summary: Even after Yaldabaoth leaves, the executions go on.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 88
Collections: Marigolds Discord Recs





	Stumbling on the Chopping Block

Igor regretted that he had not met the Trickster sooner. For one thing, the newest guest of the Velvet Room was quite an interesting spirit, brimming with potential and establishing a strong network of bonds even while under the malicious and misguiding advice of a false god.

For another, had they met sooner, perhaps some of the damage to the young man’s heart might have been prevented. Though his cell door had opened, the Velvet Room itself retained the facade of a prison.

And the executions were continuing.

Igor had clarified, of course, that persona fusion did not have to take such macabre form. To take the aspects of two familiar personas and find new strength from them was an act of creation, not destruction. He had produced the cards, performed the ritual.

The result had not been as strong as it ought to have been, and the Trickster picked up on that immediately. “I’m on a deadline,” he said, because Yaldabaoth had fused Mementos with the real world. Red rainwater leaked from his boots. “Let’s stick to what works.”

His gray eyes were challenging, and Lavenza stepped between the two of them. Her eyes, the same yellow as her brother’s and sisters’, were wary in a way her siblings’ had never been, despite the polite smile set on her face. “Master, I can perform executions for him. I am quite adept at it. Please, save your strength.”

Still so young, she had very little guile: it was blatantly obvious that she was trying to shield the Trickster from any anger his words might stir, as though Igor would rage simply from being contradicted. Her siblings had never been ordered to execute their own guest. She was well aware that it was an imposter who had given the order, and yet…

Igor was still too tired for the ire he felt at Yaldabaoth for putting doubt into both of the children in front of him. He gave a weary nod. “The executions may very well prove more useful to you,” he said to the Trickster. “This room is shaped after your heart, after all.” If he believed the executions more powerful, they would be…though Igor now wanted to pinpoint the source of that belief. He had seen through Yaldabaoth’s other lies, but not this one? “Then, Lavenza, please assist our guest to the fullest.”

**Author's Note:**

> More people on tumblr liked this than I was honestly expecting so I decided to crosspost it.


End file.
